Magazine Beach

Christopher Schmidt’s DJI Phhantom FC40 Quadcopter was flying over Magazine Beach last week and captured these views… Thank you, Christopher!

From Christopher, himself:

Over the past several months, I’ve been a regular visitor to Magazine Beach, at all times of day. As an owner of a new RC aircraft — specifically, a Phantom FC40 quadcopter — I’ve loved the open space of Magazine Beach for walking, and flying, in a beautifully scenic spot.

I’ve been able to fly at all times of day, from morning to night, and had conversations with dozens of people about the power of the quadcopter for aerial photography. Whether it’s filming rowers from Riverside Boat House along the river, catching an aerial shot of a little league game at Brud Whalen field, or just navigating the trees and picnic tables near the Powder Magazine, the park offers great oppourtunities for fun in the sun.

The great space, and great conversations with other people about this new technology and the benefits it gives for aerial photography, keep me coming back to Magazine Beach to enjoy a beautiful spot along the Charles River.

(Video music: Awesome Call, Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC-BY.)

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Just learned about this at our Earth Day Cleanup. Thank you to Andy Baer for sharing this March 1st story.

On our morning walk today Jane, Jack and I found this lady snowy owl hung up in a soccer goal at Magazine Beach in Cambridgeport. She had chased down the rabbit by her side. We didn’t want to just untangle her in case she was injured and took off so we called our friends at Cambridge Animal Control. Officer Alison P. came down with towels, cutter, and a cage. She and Jane freed her while I took pix(and a video that unfortunately didn’t come out…) and Jack our dog watched from the driver’s seat of the Cambridge Animal Control Van. Alison took the owl to the Animal Rescue League where it was determined to have been banded, to be a juvenile, have a small laceration, be a bit under weight and missing some tail feathers. She is being transported out to Tufts Veterinary School for rehab. All in all looks like a good outcome.

Andy Baer

 To learn more about the influx of Snowy Owls in Massachusetts this past winter, see and hear WBUR’s report on Snowy Owls Head South in Biggest Numbers in 50 Years. Most have migrated south by now, though one was just sighted at Plum Island and another at Duxbury Beach. To learn about bird sightings, see: http://www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/birds-birding/recent-sightings and http://massbird.org/sightings/.

Many thanks to all who came out in the rain for the Earth Day Cleanup Saturday morning, including volunteers from Momenta, Alumni of McGill University and Whole Foods. The Hale Street Crew, our State Rep. Jay Livingstone and stalwart neighbors also provided critical assistance. The park is looking much better! We picked up about 20 bags of sticks and dozens of bags of trash.

Great organizing, Charles River Conservancy, the Charles River Watershed Association, and DCR! And thanks to Whole Foods for the delicious fruit, to Jet Blue for all the snacks, and to all the other Earth Day sponsors.

McGill Alumni, thank you!

Whole Foods, fabulous, and thanks for the fruit!

Momenta, thank you!

Also, spring has sprung at Magazine Beach. Drop by and enjoy the cherry blossoms.

Hi All,

Looks like a rainy Saturday tomorrow in the low 50ies or so….

But we’re tough Cantabrigians and we won’t let that stop us from picking up sticks and trash at Magazine Beach Park, no siree!

See you at the parking crescent at the base of Magazine Street (near the pedestrian footbridge) with brownies, water (to drink) and other treats AND Earth Day t-shirts, of course.

Wear lots of layers and weather gear for a memorable morning of civic engagement.

The 15th Annual Charles River Cleanup will go on, up and down the Charles, regardless of the weather!

Cathie

See you there, rain or shine, for a morning along the River and the satisfaction of knowing that you’re helping out. We’ll provide water, snacks, work gloves and 2014 Charles River Earth Day Cleanup t-shirts. Organized by the Charles River Watershed Association, the Charles River Conservancy, DCR, etc. Spring is in the air at Magazine Beach!

Cleanup participants are invited to an after party at the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade from 12noon to 2pm. There will be refreshments, music and games and a chance to win jetBlue airline tickets! Your Earth Day Cleanup t-shirt is your ticket to the festivities.

Dick Garver and his family pose behind the “Dick Garver,” a newly christened 8-person shell.

As a member of Riverside, Dick has worked with the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association over the past three years to encourage improvements at the park. He has spoken in favor of Magazine Beach and general DCR funding at City and State hearings, helped plan several significant meetings regarding the future of our park, and represented Riverside at cleanups and park Celebrations.

Dick is the historian of the RBC and, in 2008, wrote A Brief History of Riverside Boat Club. See: http://www.riversideboatclub.com/page.aspx?p=216. A rower on the Charles since his college days, Dick is famous at Riverside, said former RBC President Igor Belakovskiy, for his extraordinary commitment to the Club and to rowing, even during the most inhospitable weather. He is a model for us all!

Two smaller boats were named for Liane Malcos Keister, a 6-time US National Team Member, 2003 World Champion and 2004 and 2008 Olympic Alternate, and the assistant coach of Riverside’s High Performance Group and Sean Wolf, a two time US National Team Member and former Riverside Captain.

Regarding the Crusher Case Race results, the women’s race was won by Ilana Zieff, while Nick Daniloff took advantage of the age handicap and won the men’s race at the ripe young age of 79.

Thank you to Igor Belakovskiy for this information and the photograph!

Note: The Riverside Boat Club is just to the left of the swimming pool at MB Park. This home of national and international rowing champions is proud of its immigrant, workingman’s rowing heritage. It is the last of the workingman’s clubs on the Charles. Dick notes what a popular sport rowing was in the late 1800s:

“By 1869, the year Riverside Boat Club was formed, there were
approximately ninety American rowing clubs, club memberships were
booming, sixty-five regattas were held throughout the country, and
racing for prizes was attracting widespread interest. Rowing was on its
way to becoming America’s most popular spectator sport.”

The Historic Structure Report for the Powder Magazine is about to be released and the RFP for roof repairs to the Magazine is about to go out. Look for construction come May and for programming at the park this summer–including our 2014 Celebration in September! And more, too…

Save the Date: Saturday, April 26, 9am-12noon, at Magazine Beach, for DCR’s Park Serve Day/15th Annual Charles River Earth Day Cleanup! Be there. It’s fun. It’s needed. And it feels good.

Magazine Beach needing some love. Thank goodness for the Earth Day Cleanup 4.26!

Sen. Petruccelli, Marge Amster, Olivia Fiske, Cathie Zusy, Gina Foote and Rep. Livingstone

Many thanks to Senator Anthony Petruccelli and Rep. Jay Livingstone for introducing today S. 1966: An Act Enabling the Department of Conservation Management to lease real Property. This would allow the 1818 Powder Magazine to go under DCR’s Historic Curatorship Program, giving DCR the option of leasing out the structure to a “curator”/3^rd party, in exchange for their converting it to its next use.

At the turn of the 20th^th century, the Olmsted Brothers were hired to convert the Magazine—built to store gun powder—into a bathhouse for Charles River swimmers. Later, in the 1950ies, MDC converted the bathhouse into a garage/office. The stone block building has now sat derelict for decades. In 2014, though, with the help of the City of Cambridge and over 100 individual donors, DCR will stabilize the structure, giving it a new roof, windows, doors and security lighting. It is essential that a concession be lined up to activate the space to bring life to it before it becomes vandalized again.  The Historic Curatorship Program will allow for this without expending State dollars. A lease/conversion option like this one, makes reactivating the Magazine and park a possibility, even in this tough economy.  Thank you Olivia Fiske, Marge Amster, Gina Foote and Cathie Zusy for sharing testimony and to Renata von Tscharner and Marilyn Wellons for submitting letters of support. And we are so grateful to Sen. Petruccelli and Rep. Livingstone for their commitment to improvements at Magazine Beach.  More as we know more….

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Boston APP/Lab Forum  Tuesday Jan. 28th, 6:30pm at BSA Space (290 Congress St., Boston)

Lessons from Cambridge’s Magazine Beach Project: What can we do together that we can’t do separately?

Great session. Here are the notes: http://bostonapp.org/sessionnotes/january-2014-inter-institutional-collaboration/

A COMPLEX INITIATIVE with many parts and many players is underway at Magazine Beach to restore both the 1818 Magazine itself and the riverside open space that surrounds it.  This is a significant case study about aligning the art, the public, and the place on a critical site, with participants ranging from the nearby neighborhood association to State government and agencies to artists to non-profits. While much has been accomplished, much remains to be done. Join BostonAPP/Lab: Art in Public Places on January 28, 6:30PM, at BSA Space, to examine this particular “intersection” of art, politics, and economics, and to participate in provoking new ideas not only about Magazine Beach but about other possibilities and other projects. The “lead provocateurs” are: Evan Hines (Director of Development, State Department of Conservation and Recreation); Rep. Jay Livingstone, 8th Suffolk District, Massachusetts House; Rob Trumbour, Director, ArtForming; Renata von Tscharner, Founder and President, Charles River Conservancy; Cathie Zusy, Chair, Magazine Beach Committee, Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association.

Ron Mallis and Lillian Hsu, Co-chairs, Boston.APP: Art in Public Places